Busy day at the ringing table

Hi everyone!

Today has been a busy Monday, since the first hours of the day we lived many exciting moments.

Hanelie was the volunteer in charge of the night’ rounds; tonight we were hoping to catch Storm Petrels (Lille stormsvale) and Nightjars (Natravn) mainly, but instead we ringed other interesting birds: Sanderling (Sandlober) and a Turnstone (Stenvender)! We also caught a Dunlin (Almindelig ryle), which was a recapture from the previous week. I woke up every time Hanelie found a bird in the nets so I was not able to get a regenerating night but instead I saw my first Turnstone in the hand. Me and Hanelie were amazed by the little feet of this bird.

In the morning me and Frank went ringing at Kabeltromlen and luckily we have been helped since the very first round at the nets by a group of Martina’s students: we caught in total 69 birds!

We are very glad the students were so interested in our work; they made very intriguing questions and they learned a lot about bird ringing (some of them were almost able to age Robins - Rødhals).

Besides the enjoyable presence of the student this morning was a very productive one: the numbers of the birds ringed were very good and there were interesting species among them, like an Eurasian Treecreper (Nordlig Træløbe) and a Water Rail (Vandrikse; see the picture below), which is not a very easy bird to find in the nets (I had to run to take it before it could fly away).

The other group of students went observing with Solenn and also wrote down a little text which I think can be shared here to help you understand what they feel about their school-trip:

“Our biology-course is visiting the Skagen Fugle Station on a school-trip for a few days. We were separated into groups of five to take part in the research-activities exerted by the Fugle Station, so we are able to get more knowledge of study-methods and the behavior, environment and migration of birds.

After waking up at 5:30 in the morning to be at the beach for sunrise, our group got binoculars and two telescopes. We went to the beach to watch birds migrating. Wind blowing, sun rising, cold faces and warm torsos, we walked through fields of sea buckthorn and beach grass until we reached the point where North sea and Baltic sea meet. Solenn was already there, sitting in the dunes, counting birds, and we sat down to join her. The air was cold and it got freezing, but the seagulls gathering on the sand, greasing their feathers, and the gannets, wheeling over the waves, waiting to flash down and catch fish, eiders swimming in low water and scoters flying just above the surface of the sea, were beautiful to watch. Despite the cold and the little-sleep circumstances, it felt really special and calming to just sit there to watch and identify birds, concentrating on binoculars and migrating strategies for hours.”.

After lunch we teached the students how to enter the data we take on birds (both on observing and ringing) and in the late afternoon we had a very good surprise: Lisa managed to catch a Magpie (Husskade; the picture below shows its beautiful tail)! This species is usually difficult to catch because of its dimensions and because of its intelligence.  

I can't wait to see which other wonderful species I will see tomorrow... 

Goodnight

Birds ringed at Gråfyr:

Sandløber (Sanderling) 1

Stenvender (Ruddy Turnstone) 1

Birds ringed at Kabeltromlen:

Jernspurv (Dunnock) 2

Rødstjert (Common redstart) 7

Rødhals (Robin) 15

Broget Fluesnapper (Pied Flycatcher) 1

Rørsanger (Reed Warbler) 3

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) 2

Gransanger (Chiffchaff) 3

Fuglekonge (Goldcrest) 1

Munk (Blackcap) 17

Havesanger (Garden Warbler) 1

Tornsanger (Common Whitethroat) 4

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) 3

Blåmejse (Blue tit) 4

Musvit (Great Tit) 1

Gærdesmutte (Eurasian Wren) 1

Grå Fluesnapper (Spotted Flycatcher) 1

Lille Dompap (Bullfinch) 1

Vandrikse (Water Rail) 1

Nordlig Træløber (Eurasian Treecreeper) 1

Birds ringed at Skagen By:

Husskade (Eurasian Magpie) 1

Total: 72!

People: Diana Sciandra, Solenn Boucher, Simon Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Frank Osterberg, Hanelie Sidhu, Martina Hillbrand and our guests Kristin and Carl.

Todays Observations from the area on DOFBasen